Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 6.5-284 Bullet recommendations?

Good day,

I got a 6.5-284 for a very good price and 'had' to buy it. It has a 1:8 twist and 24" barrel. It seems like both the 139 Scenars and 142 SMK bullets shoots really well from these but unlike the 155 Scenars I read that the 139s gives more erratic results when hunting. Is this true? IF one of the above mentioned is not suitable which route should I go?

Thanks

Pieter

Killed two tough animals with the 139. I'd try it out iffin' I was you.

My 8.5 twist 6.5-284 did so well with 140 VLD Hunting, I've not used much else. With RL-17 at 3K fps, it does well, chest shooting WT's, puts them down quickly without busting up shoulders, messing up a lot of meat.

My 6.5x55 really likes 139 and 155 Scenars. I haven't used either one on critters. Hope you're wrong about the 139, if not, I may use 155's in that gun.

DF

Another vote for the 140 vld hunting bullet at 2900 or so.

The VLD works too, just could never get them to shoot as well as a Scenar

I'd look at the 143 ELD-X REALLY HARD

From my work with the 26 Nosler, I learned that Berger doesn't recommend pushing their VLD Hunting faster than 3,100 fps, recommended the Target VLD with a slightly heavier jacket for faster rounds.

Their top 26 Nosler load was around 3,100. fps. I called and told them the 26 would push a 140 much faster. The tech let me know why their limit was what it was. I'm not sure how well the Target version would hold up beyond 3,100, so I moved on to tougher bullets for the 26 Nosler.

DF

Thanks a lot for the feedback. Good thing about the Scenars is that they are almost half the price of the Bergers around here as the our exchange rate made some of the bullets really expensive (like the Bergers).

How easy is it to get the ELD-X to shoot compared to the Scenars?

Thanks

Pieter

Berger 140 VLD's at 2950!

If Scenars were half the cost of Bergers, that would an easy decision.

DF

You can even try some hunting bullets. I don't see a lot of advantage with the VLDs unless you are shooting 800 yds+, Mine shoots 140 Hybrids very well and also shooots 140 Accubonds well. THey seem to kill very well. I culled feral horses with 130 Accubonds and they worked fine.

I have shot a lot of 130 Norma Diamonds through mine. Not sure how they hold up on game.I haveonly shot coyotes and paper with th em.

No expert or anything, but my choices would be:
Scenars
Accubonds for hunting
Ballistic Tips for plinking.

Use the 139's with confidence....it's never failed me. I've taken, or seen taken, 25+ head of big game with it in my .260's and 6.5 SAUM's. It's a real bone crusher...

Pat,

Are the 6.5 Scenars soft like a VLD or much harder? They open up ok on lung shots?

Thanks,

John

I'll be shooting 130gr Swift Scirocco this fall.

There you go.

Thanks for the info. I will pick up some Scenars and work from there. At the price I can do double the shooting wich is always good.

I guess I will try the other options at some time or another to see how they do but good to know the scenars is an option.

Thanks again.

Pieter

+1

Yep, when Pat speaks...

To comment on the question about volatility, it seems the Scenar, which has a very thin jacket, must have a harder alloy than the VLD. I know from experience the 90 gr. 6mm Scenar at .240 speed is too volatile, chest shooting WT's. Once was enough.

I'll go with Pat on the 6.5mm, 139 gr. and the .308, 155 gr. Scenars.

DF

My pard I and killed 4 pronghorn with them out of a 260 a few years back. They opened on non-bone shots from 75-437yds.

Good to know.

Thanks,

John

I loved the 140gr Amax if you can still find them.... or maybe try the 143 ELD-X

In my experience they penetrate deeper than Berger hunting vld's. They still open up on lung shots though.

Good deal. Thanks Pat.

John

What kind of overall length are you guys running with the long bullets?

Reason for asking, pard here has an 84L Montana he's thinking about rebarelling to some flavor of 6.5. His Kimber seems to have an abnormally short magbox, thought the 6.5-284 might work good for him.

Why no love for the Nosler LRAB? Seems everyone was really excited about these when they came out and now no one uses them? I am aware of the overly optimistic BC but that alone shouldn't keep them from being used. Also the aggressive expansion until the bullet slows down.

My 6.5-284 reamer has .188" freebore, and Berger VLD's seated in the lands are at 3.125" OAL, the reason I build on 700 L/A's.

I did a pretty exhaustive test on them when they first came out. They shot just fine out to 1200 yards, but couldn't beat the 5-6 MOA wind advantage of my 130 VLD's load.

Probably a non event at "normal" hunting ranges if a tougher bullet is wanted.....

Agree with LA's for the 6.5-284.

To do otherwise is to limit your options with bullet selection and COAL.

DF

Here's some pronghorn lungs via a 136-L out of a 6.5 SAUM at 235 yards: